Today Santos is celebrating 50 years of safely and sustainably delivering natural gas from its foundation asset, the Moomba processing plant in South Australia’s remote Cooper Basin.
It was on 10 November 1969 that the very first molecules of gas arrived in Adelaide via the 800km pipeline from Moomba.
From those humble beginnings, Moomba has become a critical hub in the eastern Australian energy market, connecting Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria via a network of pipelines built since.
Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher said those origins in the Cooper Basin created the Santos we know today: A truly national company spanning the length and breadth of our continent, and our nearest neighbours Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, developing natural gas for Australia and Asia.
“The arrival of much cleaner natural gas helped transform South Australia’s economy, providing a secure and reliable source of energy for homes and industry, and Australia’s first and to this day, largest natural gas fired power station at Torrens Island,” Mr Gallagher said.
“Today natural gas remains crucial if we’re to solve the twin challenges of reducing carbon emissions while meeting growing demands for secure and reliable power generation, supporting the integration of renewable energy into the grid.”
Mr Gallagher also noted that 2019 marks Santos’ 65th birthday.
“I pay tribute to our visionary pioneers who got together in 1954 to search the harshest and remotest parts of South Australia for oil and gas, and all of the folks who’ve been a part of the Santos journey since.
“While we have a proud past, we here at Santos are always looking to the future. There’s still plenty of new life in the Cooper Basin, with Santos positioned to grow its production and reserves, including an exciting new field at Moomba South.
“There’s also the potential for some of the huge reserves in the Northern Territory we’re working to develop to flow south to Moomba and connect into the east coast market.
“I am also excited that this foundation asset has a role in our lower-carbon future, with the appraisal of what could result in a large-scale carbon capture and storage hub.”
